>Realistically, though, it's unlikely that a complete set of novices
>would suddenly acquire a ship of their own and go sailing in her.
>
>
Well, we were originally hired by an experienced captain who had lost
his entire crew to the Lunars, but he got killed fairly early on, and we
were rewarded for some of our heroic deeds by being given a ship of our
own. I'll also note that our Follower crewmen appear to be less
experienced than we are, so we can't be *that* bad. Really, other than
the Opening (if it really were 10w3, which apparently, it usually isn't)
we'd be a perfectly capable crew, so I'd reject the 'complete novices' tag.
>Far more likely that an experienced captain would hire replacements
>for dead/retired/missing crew, and they'd gradually learn the ropes
>and be trained in the needed skills... until after many years of
>experience, they were ready to be captains themselves.
>
>
Replace 'years' with 'weeks', and that's pretty much what happened.
Which, is, of course, absurdly short if you consider us complete
novices... which, really, all in-game evidence seems to suggest we
aren't. But its essential, in-game, because, otherwise, how do we
explain that it's always the player heroes who get to decide where the
boat goes? And, if they're not deciding that, that's dull, and I'd
dispute that it makes any sense (to me - others may, of course, feel
differently) as the 'default' game. As a possible game, sure, and
potentially an interesting one, but not the default.
And also, look at the Sample Resistances table - we're told that the best combat ability of a professional soldier or Orlanthi weaponthane is in the 17-18w range. Now, unless the great majority of professional soldiers are complete novices with a weapon (and some will be, since once has to start somewhere, but *most* of them?) that suggests to me that professional sailors will also have their best sailing ability in the 17-18w range. Which is about how good we are. Sure, we aren't skilled veterans, let alone great sailing heroes, but, once again, it looks as if we're clearly not inexperienced or incapable. We are professionals of average experience. Which, yeah, means our captain is below average, for a captain, but that doesn't feel that unrealistic to me - somebody has to be below average, after all :)
>The other simple alternative, though, is to have an NPC Opener on the
>ship. If that's all (s)he does - cast the Opening ritual - it
>wouldn't be too disruptive.
>
That would certainly work, yes. Good suggestion.
Rob Davis:
>But Trotsky has hit the nub of the problem - if you want to play
>seagoing folk, how do you play a campaign when you have trouble
>leaving port?
>
Well, if the resistance is typically 14, we don't have a problem - and
even less so, if, as Stephen suggests, we have a skilled NPC Opener.
Sometimes, of course, there will be problems, because the Opening is
stronger today, or we fumble a roll, or whatever - but of such things
are stories made. So long as we can usually get onto the sea without too
much difficulty, everything is OK.
-- Trotsky Gamer and Skeptic ------------------------------------------------------ Trotsky's RPG website: http://www.ttrotsky.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
Powered by hypermail